Adin a



(No Model.)

A. A. HATCH.

ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

No. 435,893. Patented Sept. 2, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADIN A. IIATCII, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO BENJAMIN F.JONES, EDW'ARD L. MARTIN, AND ALFRED \V. JONES, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRICAL SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,893, datedSeptember 2, 1890.

Application filed November 20, 1889. Serial No. 330.948- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ADIN A. HATCH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented new and useful Improvements in Attachments for ElectricalSignaling Apparatus, of which the follOWing is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to electrical apparatus the object ofwhich is to automatically cut out of circuit any one of a series ofindividual signal-receiving instruments located on a telegraphic oranalogous electrical signaling-line.

Its further object is to combine with apparatus of this type aresponding signaling device located at each receiving-station whichshall automatically signal back to other stations an indication that theapparatus has been cut out or the signal correctly received.

I accomplish these objects by the use of the apparatus hereinafterdescribed, but particularly pointed out in the claims which follow thisspecification.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood, reference is hadto the accompanying drawings in connection with the followingspecificatiomwhich is a clear and exact description of the manner ofmaking and using the apparatus hereinafter claimed.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing one apparatus complete at onestation. Fig. 2 is a modified form of the cut-out mechanism proper.

In the drawings, Fig. l, the line is shown as entering and departingfrom a single apparatus, it being understood that at outlying stationsand at the station shown there are supposed to be transmitters of anypreferred form-such, for instance, as Morse keysand that a main-linetransmitting-battery is located on some point on the line; or that thesignaling-transmitters which operate the apparatus to be hereinafterdescribed may be of the well-known type shown in my prior patent, No.403,104, granted on the 14th day of May, 1889, it being understood thatthe transmitters shall adapt themselves to the receiving apparatus whichcontrols the cut-out mechanism. Fig. 1 represents such a receivingapparatus, and is not in substance materially unlike the receiverdisclosed in the aforesaid patent. I will first describe so much of thisreceiver as is necessary to convey a clear understanding of itsoperation in connection with my present improved apparatus.

2 represents a pivoted arm, carrying a curved sector 4 through theagency of sustaining-arms a On this curved sector is arranged a seriesof wire loops or eyes 5, in substantially the same manner disclosed inthe aforesaid patent.

Above the pivoted sustaining-rod 2 is a weighted arm 6 for advancing thesector, and attached to a short arm 21 at the point 16 is joined a lever17, loosely secured at its lower end to the armature-lever l5, pivotedto an upright standard 1-1 in the magnetic field of arestoring-magnet18. The outer end of the arm 21 has secured to it adash-rod adapted to play in a dash-pot 19, and this arm contacts anelectrical contact-point 51 when the. sector 4 is held in its extremeright-hand position under the agency of weight 6.

Secured to the frame-work of the machine is a pair of standards 7,supporting a pivoted armature-lever 8 in the magnetic held of a magnet12, said armature-lever having a retractile spring 13 for holding it inits extreme upward position, and carrying at one end a rod 9, which isprovided with a detent-hook 10, adapted to drop into the loops or eyes 5as the sector 4: advances, if the prearranged order of dots and dashesbe followed in the act of transmitting a signal, and otherwise to fallbetween said loops when the circuit of magnet 12 is broken and to carrythe projecting end 22 into mechanical contact with spring 23, secured tothe frame of the machine, and having an electrical point on its free endadapted to contact with a fixed contact 24, thereby closing the localcircuitof the battery B through wire 25 and restoring magnet 18, whetherthis be at the completion of a signal or at any intervening point, insubstantially the same manner as is disclosed in a pending applicationfiled by me in the United States Patent Office on the 6th day ofJanuary, 1890, Serial No. 335,970. In the aforesaid application I havefully disclosed W deemed necessary to uselessly encumber the drawingswith features which are not especially subservient to the completeoperation of the apparatus.

Referring now to Fig. 1 and to the parts in detail thereof, 38 is themainline relay adapted to control the operation of. a local sounder 26.43 is asubstitute relay adapted to cut out the main-line relay with thehelp of the switch 28, controlled by switch-magnets 31 and 31 64 is aresponding-magnet adapted to control the respondingsignal. L B isthelocal-sounder battery, and B is a local battery, the function of whichis to actuate the magnet 12 and again place the relay 38 in themain-line circuit when it is desired to place the operator at thatstation in connection with the distant stations.

The several circuits controlling the relays 38 43 and the switch-magnets31 31 with the signaling-magn et12, restoring-magnet 18, and theresponding signaling-magnet 64, are indicated'by various numbers, aswill appear in connection with a description of the operation of theapparatus, which I will now proceed to give. 'Suppose it is desired tocut out the sounder 26 from some distant station in order that theoperator at this station may not hear the message that is to be sentover the line. 'In this condition of affairs the circuit of themain-line battery (not shown) is closed as follows: By line-wire throughwire 39, relay 38,wire 37, contact-point 35, contact 33,switchl'ever28,pivot29,wire45,andouttothesucceeding stations on theline. The operator at the station from which the' message is to betransmitted then causes the particular combination of dots anddashes orof dots, as disclosed in my prior patent and pending application abovereferred to, to be sent over the line. The armature-lever 56, therefore,of relay 38 opens and closes the circuit of local battery L B in thisprearranged sequence of impulses through wire 55, sounder 26, wire 54,Wire 63, magnet 12,and wire 57, and the armature-lever 8 therefore isvibrated in accordance with this prearranged order of impulses, and thehook or catch permits the sector 4. to step 'forward step by step in theloops or eyes 5 until the last loop is reached, when the circuit is leftopen abriet' space of time, sufficient to allow a temporary closureoflocal batteries S B through the wire 52, contact-points 50 and 51, wire49, magnet 64, wire 49, switch-magnet 31, wire 46. contact 36, contact32, insulated from switch-lever 28 by an insulating-block 34, andfinally by wire 53 to the otherpole of the battery. This causes thearmature 30 to tilt the switch-lever 28 in the opposite position,thereby bringing the contact-plates 32 and 33 into contact with theplates 41 and 40,

said switch-lever passing its center of gravity before the circuit isbroken between 35 and 36, so as to fall by its own weight and make asure contact with plates and 41. The main-line circuit through relay 38and wire 37 is thus broken between the contact-plates 33 and 35, and theswitch-magnet 31 has its circuit broken between the plates 32 and 36,while a new circuit is formed for the switchmagnet 31 between the plates32 and 41, as will be described later, and a new path is made for themain-line circuit by wire 39, wire 44, relay 43, wire 42, contact-plate40, contact-plate 33, switch-lever 28 pivot 29, and wire out to line. Itwillythus beseen that inasmuch as relay 38 is absolutely cut out itslocal sounder is also ineffective. Of course the relay 43, being in themain-line circuit, will receive the signals which would ordinarily comethrough its companion relay 38, and such signals might be read byan-observer by watching armature orits local magnet 12 in the circuit oflocal batter-y B and circuit-wires 58 and 61; but ordinarily these twomagnets should be concealed and their armatures deadened, so that noindication can be had of the signals passing through them. It is ofcourse obvious that any preferred means may be utilized foraccomplishingthis end.

WVhen it is desired to restore the relay 38, and hence its sounder 26,to th eir normal ,conditions, the operator at the distant station, whohas previously cut them out, simply causes a repetition of thecharactersignaled to be transmitted over the line, whereupon the relay43, acting through its armature 60, contact-point 59, and wires 58 and61, local battery B, and signal-con trolling magnet 12 will cause theswinging sector 4 to close the circuit of batteryS B at the completionof its swing, as before, at the points 50 and 51 through the magnets 64and the opposite switch-magnet 31, whereupon the switchlever 28 will berestored to its former. condition. Every time the circuitof battery 8 Bis closed through either of the switch magnets 31 or 31 it is alsoclosed through the magnet 64, as I have heretofore indicated, therebycausing its armature-lever 65 to be drawn down, and therebycounteracting the effects of the retractile spring .66, and releasingthe detent 67 from its bearing against one IIO of the pins 69 in thesignal-wheel ,68, on the face of which is placed in Morse characters aprearranged signal in duplicate,so that during each half-revolution ofsaid signal-wheel the resistance of the main-line circuit is varied adefinite number of times through the wire 73,brush 72, and signal wheeland wire 74, thereby indicating to the operator who first cut out thisstation that he had accomplished that result, and in a similar manner,after he had again restored it to normal condition, a like announcementto that effect. It will be seen of course that this signalwheel 68cannot actuallyinterrupt the mainline circuit, inasmuch as said circuitis always elosedthrough either one or the other of the relays 3S 01'43;but inasmuch as the brush 72 is only in contact with the metalliccontactplates 71 of the signal when said contact-plates pass under saidbrush the resistance of the line is lowered an amount equal to thediifcrence between the low-resistance paths 73 H and that due to therelays 38 or 43, so that if the transmitting operator is provided with alistening-telephone he can readily detect the back signal when sent in.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a modified form of switch apparatus designed totake the place of switch 28 and its magnets 3land 31, with theirnecessary connections. In this instance the magnet 75 is in the circuitat? 53. of the local battery S B, and its armature-lever held in itsupper position by the spring 77 acts through the detent78 to withholdthe circuitchanging disk 79 from rotation until said detent is drawnforward under the influence of a current from battery S B, when thecontactpoints 50 and 51 are closed, as hereinbefore described. \Vhenthis takes place, the disk 79 is caused to rotate one-quarterof arcvolution, and at each alternate fourth of its revolution the conduetor87 joins the metallic plates 81 and is brought electrically incircuit with contact-springs S3 and 84, thereby aifording ashunt-circuit for the main -line current through the conductor 87, therelay 38 being located in the oliiee-wire 85. An inspection of thisfigure will reveal the fact that at each quarter of a revolution of thedisk 79 the main-line current is automatically thrown first through theot'fice-instruments and then cut out.

I do not limit myself to the specific construction and arrangement ofparts herein disclosed for automatically cutting out outlyingsubscribers or users, nor to the special form of signaling; apparatusdesigned for controlling such outlying apparatus, as I believe I ambroadly entitled to claim mechanism for automatically cutting out anyone of a series of outlying stations at will, so as to exclude theoperator at such station from a knowledge of that which is transpiringover the line. I believe it is also new with me to combine, broadly,mechanism for automatically cutting out and cutting in individual stations and with automatic return-signal mechanism, and I desire itunderstood that my claims are directed, broadly, to mechanism foraccomplishing these functions.

I am aware that return electrical signal devices for indicating thecorrect transmission and reception of a signal to outlying stations arebroadly old in the art, and I make no claim to such devices per 36.

I am also aware that secret-call devices are old by which any one of aseries of outlying operators may be called, to the exclusion of all theother operators having receiving-hr struments in the same circuit; but Iam not aware that an automatic individual cut-out apparatus has ever yetbeen devised whereby any operator may cut out or out in any otheroperators receiving-instruments at will, and I believe myself broadlyentitled to generic claims for mechanism adapted to serve these ends.

I believe it is also, broadly, new with me to combine an individualsignal-receiving i11- strument which responds only to one of a number ofprearranged signals with an automatic return-signal adapted to warn anoperator at a distant station that the signal which he has transmittedhas been received at the particular-station for which it was destined,and to the exclusion of any knowledge of the fact by any other operatorthan the one intended.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an electrical signal system, a signalreceiving relay locatednormally in the main line and having local circuit connections with alocal signaling-instrument, in combination with an individual automaticcut-out device located in a local circuit controlled by the same relayand responsive only to a prearranged signal, substantially as described.

2. In an electrical signal system, a receivin g-instrumen t, such as aMorse relay, in combination with a local signaling-instrninentcontrolled by the relay, and an individual antomatic electromagneticcut-out apparatus having circuit-conneetions, substantially asdescribed, whereby the relay is automatically cut in or out of circuitfora prearranged signal, substantially as described.

3. In a signal system, a signal-receiver located normally in the mainline, an individual signal apparatus responsive only to a special orprearranged signal, an electro-magnetic switch and circuit-connectionsbetween the signal receiver, the individual signal apparatus, and theelectro-magnetic switch, whereby the signal receiver may be placed inand out of the signal-line circuit at the will of a distant operator,substantially as described.

4. In an individual signal system, a pair of electro-magnetic relays,one of which is normally in the main-line circuit and the otherdisconnected therefrom, an individual signalreceiving apparatusresponsive only to a prearranged signal, an electro-magnetic switchdevice, and circuit-connections between the individual signal apparatus,the switch device, and the relays, whereby one of said relays is cut outof and the other out into the main-line circuit, and vice versa, at thewill of a distant operator, substantially as described.

5. In a signal system, an electro-magnetic relay normally in themain-line circuit, an individual signal-receiver responsive only to aICO chanically-actuated return-signal transmitter located in a shuntaround the individual call apparatus and adapted to indicate that thecall has been received, substantially as described.

8. In an electrical signal system, a signalreceiving instrument, anindividual call apparatus responsive only toa particular signal, anautomatic switch device controlled by the individual call apparatus, andan automatic mcchanically-actuated return signal device located in theshunt around the individual call apparatus, substantially as described.

9. In an electrical signal system, a pair of relays, an individual calldevice, a switch apparatus and a return-signal located in the shuntaround the relays, and electrical circuitconnections whereby the relaysare alternately cut in and out of the main-line circuit and the factindicated to a distant operator, substantially as described.

10. An individual signal-receiver rcsponsive only to a particular orspecial call, in combination with an automatic mechanicallyactuatedreturn-signal transmitter locatedin a shunt around the signal-receiverand localcircuit connections, the Whole being arranged for indicatingthat the signal has been correctly received, substantially as described.

11. Anindividual signal-receiver provided with mechanism for advancingit-step bystep to the completion of its phase, in combination with anautomatic mechanically-actuated returnsignal transmitter located in theshunt around the signal-receiver, having circuit connections with theindividual receiving apparatus and the main line,substan- 'tially asdescribed, whereby a distant operator is advised of the fact that thespecial signal has been correctly received, substantially as described.

12. An individual signal-receiver having means of advancing it to thecompletion of its phase for special sign-a1 only, with additional meansfor restoring it to normal condition either at the end of the phase onthe completion of the signal or at any intermediate point if the signalbe varied, in combination with an automatic mechanically-actuatedreturn-signal transmitter located in a shunt around the signal-receiver,having electrical connections with the individual apparatus for sendingin the return-signal only when the individual signal has been received,substantially as described.

13. An individual signal-receiver having electro-magnetic means foradvancing it to the completion of the signal, additionalelectro-magnetic means forrestoring it to normal position, incombination with an automatic mechanically -actuated return -signaltransmitter located in a shunt around the signalreceiver,havinglocal-circuit con nect-ions with the individual signal-receiverfor sending in a return-signal only after the individual signal has beencompleted, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

A. A. HATCH.

\Vitnesses:

PERCY B. HILLs, JAMES A. RUTHERFORD.

